Men’s and women’s
Minnesota Freeze teams play games at Lake Nokomis fields every Saturday during
season
by Tesha M. Christensen
The day Bri Ostoff moved into the Nokomis neighborhood three
years ago, she joined the women’s Minnesota Freeze Australian Football team.
“I found the Minnesota Freeze on Meetup, a website for
different activities, and they practiced in my new neighborhood at Lake Nokomis
so I decided to try it as a way to met people,” recalled Ostoff. “I have been
hooked and playing for over three years.”
The Minnesota Freeze has over 50 members from the Twin Cities
area playing on the men’s and women’s teams. Their season runs from the
end of April to mid-October.
The teams are at Lake Nokomis fields just off Cedar on
Saturdays with practices at 9 a.m. and inter league scrimmage starting around
10:30 a.m. Men practice Wednesdays at Northwestern Health Science University in
Bloomington at 6 p.m., and women practice Mondays at Bryn Mawr Park in
Minneapolis at 6 p.m.
The Freeze started in 2005 with a few Australians who had
moved to Minnesota. Today, the Minnesota team has the least amount of Aussies
compared to any other in the U.S., and is one of the largest leagues in the
country. Ages of players range from as young as 16 all the way to 50. The
Minnesota Freeze is part of the non-profit United States Australian Football
League (USAFL), an organization dedicated to the development of and participation
in Australian football in the United States.
The United
States Australian Football League’s (USAFL) first ever game was played in 1996
between Louisville and Cincinnati at Louisville, Ky. The league was founded the
following year in 1997 at the first USAFL Nationals in Cincinnati, Ohio.
The men’s Freeze team has won three National Championships:
2005 - Division 3, 2007 - Division 2, and 2012 - Division 2.
The women’s team travels twice a year, once to play its
nearest team in Chicago and once to attend the USAFL National Championship
Tournament. The men’s team travels more often because there are men’s
teams to play in Des Moines, Chicago, and Madison.
But traveling is not a requirement, according to Ostoff. Many
members just play locally until the Nationals in October.
“This is a welcoming team full of people who wanted to train
and play like a team,” said Ostoff. “Some of us came from other sports. For
some this is their first team sport. Its social and the people are amazing. I
do also really enjoy tackling people.”
The sport requires skill, strength, and strategic thinking.
At whatever level one plays at, Footy improves fitness, strength and
coordination.
LEARNING
AS SHE WENT
Like many others on the team, Ostoff had no idea what she was
doing and learned the rules as she went. During her first game, she got a
50-meter penalty -- that’s one rule she’ll never forget.
Australian rules football, officially known as Australian
football, or simply called football or footy, is a contact sport played between
two teams of 18 players on an oval-shaped field that could easily fit an entire
football field. There are no pads, but it is a full tackle sport. Games
are played in two 20-minute halves with a 7-minute half-time break.
There are jump balls similar to basketball at the start of
quarters, after goals, and when there is a struggle of possession without any
prior opportunity, according to Ostoff. If a player tackles a person who has
possession, the ball is turned over and he/she gets a free kick. You have to
kick the ball through the middle posts for 6 points; if you get this through
the posts on either side on a kick it is called a behind and worth only one
point. A behind turns the ball over to your opponents’ defenders, and they get
a free kick.
“It’s a continuous moving sports, so changes are made on the
fly,” said Ostoff. “There are no off sides. And you can only score by
kicking.”
Women and men’s teams play by the same rules.
“I find it to have similar structures to hockey,” noted
Ostoff, who played hockey in high school and college. “It combines so many
aspects of different sports that it fun to learn and we love to teach it.”
Ostoff biggest challenge has been learning how to kick, as
this is the first sport she’s played where she needed that skill.
“The kick is most like a football punt, but it has its own
technique because you should be able to kick without really breaking your
running stride,” explained Ostoff. “This is something every American on the
team has had to learn. Your kicks have to be accurate enough for your
teammates to catch on the fly while fending off a defender.”
She typically plays the position of Half Back Flank, a
defensive position on the D line closest to the midfield and flank. “Tall
people are generally in the middle of the field,” stated Ostoff. “I’m short so
I play on the outside.”
Ostoff had competed in over 13 different sports growing up,
so changing sports wasn’t a new idea for her.
“I love team sports,” Ostoff said. “Working and training to
achieve a common goal is an amazing, empowering place for people to bond and
grow.”
REPRESENTING
THE U.S. IN AUSTRALIA
This past August Ostoff went to Australia as a member of the
USA Women’s Liberty team, a development team made up of women who play footy
from across the U.S. Team members played local women’s clubs in Australia,
winning 3 out of the 5 games. This opportunity exists every three years,
and Ostoff learned about it during her rookie year and worked three years to
make the team.
“It was amazing to play footy in Australia,” remarked Ostoff.
“The feel is similar to small town hockey. The whole town comes out to support
their clubs and cheer each other on. It was a great honor to represent the USA
and our women.The Minnesota Freeze is always looking for new men and women to join and play. More at www.mnfreeze.com
This article appeared in the October 2017 edition of the Longfellow-Nokomis Messenger.
